Brachinus Weber, 1801

Bousquet, Yves, 2012, Catalogue of Geadephaga (Coleoptera, Adephaga) of America, north of Mexico, ZooKeys 245, pp. 1-1722 : 476

Genus Brachinus Weber, 1801

Brachinus Weber, 1801: 22. Type species: Carabus crepitans Linnaeus, 1758 designated by Latreille (1810: 426). Etymology (original). From the Greek brachyno (shorten), probably alluding to the short elytra (" elytra rigida abbreuiata truncata ") of the adult [masculine].

Brachynus Agassiz, 1846: 50, 51. Unjustified emendation of Brachinus Weber, 1801.

Distribution.

About 300 species (Lorenz 2005: 17-20) in the Nearctic (50 species), Neotropical (about 50 species, several shared with North America), Australian (one species in New Guinea), Oriental, Palaearctic (about 120 species), and Afrotropical Regions. These species are arrayed in nine subgenera: Brachinus s.str. (ten species), Brachynolomus Reitter (43 species), Metabrachinus Jeannel (38 Afrotropical species), Aploa Hope (three species), Brachinoaptinus Lutshnik (17 species), Aptinomimus Alluaud (seven Madagascan species), Dysbrachinus Schuler (two species), Cnecostolus Reitter (11 species), and Neobrachinus (about 85 species), with 89 species not assigned to subgenera.

Identification.

Erwin (1970a) revised the North and Middle American species. No new species from the region have been described subsequently.